Local Government Aid (LGA) is police, fire protection, libraries, safe roads, parks, and more. Cutting LGA, as Gov. Pawlenty has proposed, will result in cuts to core city services and weaken a city's economic health. If you value your city services, contact the governor and your legislators and tell them that cutting LGA is the wrong direction for Minnesota.
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Share your LGA story with ThankLGA.org! How will cuts in LGA affect the city services you depend on, such as the library, parks, street maintanence, police, and fire protection? What are your suggestions for helping the state balance its budget deficit? Take this opportunity to let your voice be heard!
December 8th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
In the 29 years since I graduated from school, between my jobs and my participation in statewide politics, I have averaged driving 25,000 miles a year. I was always extremely impressed by the job that MN DOT, Minnesota County Road and Bridge folks and City plows did in keeping the roads and streets open, under sometimes extreme Northern Minnesota conditions. But, approximately 5-6 years ago, our winter road and street conditions began to seriously deteriorate. One morning, after visiting my mother overnight, I left to drive to the TC’s. We’d had a storm overnight so my mother’s parting comment was, “Drive carefully.” My reply was, “MN DOT always keeps the roads open.” I discovered that day that this was no longer true. It took me five hours to drive the usually two and half hour trip from Duluth to the TC’s. I35 was horrible!!! Now I plan for lengthy, difficult drives and often decide just not to go because I know the roads won’t be safe even in my all wheel drive car. Interestingly, the TC’s seem to see plows much earlier and much more often than we in Greater Minnesota. I will pay more to make sure I have safe, winter roads to drive on.
March 19th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
We at the Hancock Community Library are very dependent on LGA for support to keep this Library open. In a small town the Library serves as an informational center, an educational center,a social center, an entertainment center, a meeting center,and many more things. Our library being kept open is very vital to the very “life” of this town.
Phyllis Joos
Librarian
Hancock Community Library
Hancock, Minnesota
March 19th, 2009 at 6:54 am
Meadowlands, population 120 is a low/moderate income city in South Central St. Louis County.
Though small, we continue to be sustainable with municipal water/sewer, street, sidewalk, lighting maintenance, fire protection and ambulance service(employing 1 full time postion taking care of water/sewer, utilities, street and all maint.)
LGA has helped us to keep these servies. Previous High fuel costs, rising costs of permits and fees, our small business struggling due to the economy and citizens who are elderly and low income families limits our taxing capibilities.
Please do not cut our Cities of this valuable aid. Keep LGA.
City of Meadowlands Council
March 16th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
The City of Mahnomen, population 1,202, is still taking a hit from the last round of budget cuts from 2003.
The City of Mahnomen is heavily dependent on LGA to fund critical city operations. I’ll be the first to say the City of Mahnomen would like to not depend on LGA at all!
However, this is not feasible, as Mahnomen County has one of the lowest per-capita income rates in the state! Furthermore being the county seat and a rural community, with a daytime workforce three times that of the population, the City of Mahnomen is burdened with a higher cost to maintain its infrastructure than most other small metro or rural communities.
The Governor is proposing a $80,000 plus decrease in LGA for FYI 2010. As a result, the City cannot do any long-term capital improvements. Specifically, the City will not be able to do any seal coating (it has deferred seal coating since 2007 as a result of LGA cutbacks in 2008 and 2009 and the high cost of petrolum), purchase any fire vehicles (the latest fire vehicle is a 1985 pumper truck), or purchase any street vehicles (the newest purchase being a new street pickup in 1981).
While, many people think new vehicles are a “luxury”, when gas rose as high as $4-5 a gallon, just last year, a 1981 street vehicle begins to burn through a lot of (unnecessary) money in both gasoline and maintenance.
While, I could go on and on on our LGA story, the truth is in greater Minnnesota we have to accommodate more services than in the metro where there are many more communities to share the cost of providing the same amount of services. Furthermore, being more remote and being farther north, the City encounters higher energy costs in the form of transportation, heating, and electricity!
Furthermore, while we are willing to help out the state of Minnesota in this difficult economic times, we want you to recognize our individual needs too.
Sincerely,
Mitchell Berg
City Administrator
March 16th, 2009 at 10:33 am
In 2003 MPCA hit our city with an $85,000.00 fine for waste water levels not meeting their tight levels. We managed to negotiated this fine down to a reasonable level under an agreement that we would construct a new waste water treatment facility. Fast forward 5 years… our new pond system was completed in October of 2008 and is now operational. It came at a cost of roughly 2.7 million dollars. We were able to receive some grant money to cover a majority of the costs but we still had to increasing water rates, raise taxes, and get a million dollar loan to cover what was left. For Hancock, a city of 717 people, our city budget is tapped out. We are faced with paying down these loans now, and we rely on our LGA to cover monthly payments, bond payments and other costs. If we do not receive the full amount of our LGA, we are faced with shutting down some of our important city services, including possibly ending our police protection.
DFL party leaders are saying their proposal is “fair” across the board, to include a 7% cut on all state spending. Clearly they don’t understand what the word priority means. There are obviously some items that have a higher priority then others. Does the 7% cut include a 7% cut in their salaries?
To share the load on LGA fairly, would require that small cities(especially those under 1000 population) have their levels frozen at the current levels. Larger populated cities with higher tax base, have more room for flexibility. I’m not saying it is going to be easy for those larger cities, I’m just saying that these cuts are more devastating to the smaller cities.
In Hancock’s case, we did not build these ponds because we wanted to or that we had a million dollars burning a hole in our pocket. We were forced to build these under tight restrictions and regulations set by State government agencies. It seems unfair that the state would force this expensive change on us, and then reduce LGA funding after our project is completed. It’s like a kick in the pants.
Brett Nelson / City Council
March 16th, 2009 at 9:22 am
With the proposed cuts we will not be able to pay our monthly bills, heat, water, electricity, bond payments, payroll for TWO months. We have just completed a very expensive sewer pond install as a demand from MPCA in which we have a $90,000 bond payment each year. Please don’t cut our LGA. With a population of 707 we have very little resources to increase fees and additional money to make these payments.
March 9th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
A true life saving story in “the most livable city in America” (for now):
Last week there was a man who went into cardiac arrest, fortunately, this man lived next to a St. Paul fire station. However, the ambulance crew was out of the station on another emergency call. But because of the current staffing, strategic plan and distribution of resources there is a ladder truck also housed there that was able to respond immediately. Firefighters arrived to find a man with no pulse and was not breathing. The ladder company immediately started CPR and other emergency interventions while another ambulance crew was called for. As the ambulance arrived on scene they were able to find a pulse on the man and he was making attempts to breath on his own. Further progress was made en-route to the hospital. This man’s life was saved by the quick, professional response by St. Paul fire and the current way the department is laid out. If there are cuts to the fire department as proposed, there would be no ladder truck or additional company at that fire station and this man’s life most certainly would have been lost. We cannot afford to lose ANY resources or be forced into restructuring our department due to lay offs and budget cuts. If so, property and lives that could have been saved will be lost. What if it is you, your spouse, mother, or child that is in need of our help but is lost due to budget cuts? It is not wise or fair to gamble with our public safety. On behalf of all St. Paul citizens and their well-being, please don’t cut public safety and don’t gamble with our lives.
I am a St. Paul citizen and one of our newest Firefighters. I left a full time firefighting job to come join this department and be a part of this great city. I uprooted my family, quit my job, and left behind many friends and relatives to come here. I bought a house in St. Paul to be a part of this community. If there are cuts, I will be one of the first people laid off. These cuts would cause my family to lose their house to foreclosure as there will be no way to keep up with our mortgage payments. I’ve seen many other homes foreclosed on in this city, does it really need anymore? You would lose a great Firefighter, a well-involved citizen, and home values in my neighborhood will fall while crime continues to increase. I will have to uproot my family again and go to another community, and I have already given an example of how public property and lives will be lost all because of LGA and fire department cuts. This is not to mention the increased future strain on the budget by having to retest, retrain, reeducate, and rehire someone to take the place of those cut…
March 9th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
As the government of St. Paul works to meet proposed budget cuts, it is important to consider the ramifications of the proposed cuts in staffing at the St. Paul Fire Department. Cutting staff from St. Paul Fire Department is a huge mistake given our current economic situation, which is only projected to get worse before it gets better. Historically, there is a strong inverse correlation between the economy and the burden on fire services. As the economy becomes depressed, there is more need for fire services. This is a well-documented fact about which much has been written for both lay and academic audiences. While it is understandably necessary to be fiscally responsible in these hard economic times, it irresponsible to cut one of the community services that is most important in times of hardship. Policy makers should reconsider whether the proposed staffing cuts to St. Paul Fire are really the best course of action at this point in time. With the economic situation, it is likely that the burden placed on fire and emergency medical services, which are also provided by St. Paul Fire Department, will increase. Cutting staff will put an increased burden on fire services that will likely already be facing a greater burden due to the poor economy. This will place firefighters at greater risk of injury, not to mention make the city more vulnerable. I urge the citizens of St. Paul to raise their voices, and let their representatives know that the budget cuts proposed to St. Paul Fire need to be met in a way that does not adversely affect firefighter safety or the people of St. Paul. Staffing cuts are the wrong solution to a difficult problem.
March 5th, 2009 at 11:44 am
I’m concerned that Gov. Pawlenty does not fully understand the effects of LGA cuts on neighborhoods. His mansion on elegant Grand Avenue is a long way from St. Paul’s Hamline Midway, where our library is an anchor in a neighborhood that needs anchors. We should be investing in neighborhoods during a bad economy. Instead, because of reckless LGA cuts, the city has proposed turning off street lights, laying off police officers, making cuts to parks – and closing our library. Neighborhoods that are already starting to fray at the edges are in danger.
This is a moral issue. We – especially our elected leaders — each should ask ourselves: What does it say about us that we are voting to close a library?
My wife and I take our two young children to the library every week, sometimes twice. We read the books we get there to our kids every night. Hamline Midway Library is a part of our lives.
It’s not fair to put cities in this position. These LGA cuts are shameful. Is this the legacy Gov. Pawlenty intends to leave?
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:39 pm
Governor Pawlenty’s comments downplaying the loss of governmental aids and asking outstate cities to withhold their support of the Coalition of Greater Minnesota Cities (CGMC) are more examples of how out of touch his office is with the needs of out-state and rural Minnesota. I agree with Wadena’s Mayor Wolden that the price we pay to support CGMC is far less than if we had to try to keep up with all the legislation ourselves. That Governor Pawlenty had to name the CGMC specifically by name states that they are getting to him and doiing the job we hire them to do. Stay the course CGMC!
February 25th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Proximity to the Hamline-Midway library was an important factor in purchasing our home in the city. For 17 years it has served our needs well. In fact, outside of children’s programs at the Central Library downtown, we’ve never used another library facility in St. Paul or Ramsay County. If it closes, we are able to drive to other facilities, but many of our neighbors cannnot. As the business world is depicting all too well, bigger is usually not a better solution. LGA helps our cities provide services on a scale appropriate to each city. This includes police and fire protection, libraries and parks. St. Paul values all of its neighborhoods and citizens, and we need to try and find a way to continue these values….
February 25th, 2009 at 10:29 am
Because of LGA cuts, our neighborhood library, the Hamline-Midway branch of St. Paul, is facing closure. This is a gathering place and resource for residents of all kinds–families with small children, new immigrants looking for jobs on the Internet, elders, and schoolchildren from the nearby elementary school.
Losing this library will take away a key component of community and neighborhood-building. As my six-year-old son put it, “If they close the library, I won’t be able to ride my bike to the library anymore.”